


But You Know Your Desire

by dawnstruck



Series: Hopeless Wanderer [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Study, Codependency, Gen, M/M, Mindfuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 17:45:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5257787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawnstruck/pseuds/dawnstruck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times people didn't understand that monstrosity between Sasuke and Naruto, and one time someone did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But You Know Your Desire

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this doesn't feel too disjoined or irregular as the first four parts were written way back after at the end of last year while the last two only came into being just now. But once more your feedback for the last installment was so precious that I couldn't help myself and was bitten by the inspiration bug.

i.

When Kakashi first notices that Sasuke and Naruto are growing closer, he is pleased.

After all, Team 7 isn't much of a team yet, and spending time together outside of missions will make them all more familiar. Trust is what they need instead of rivalry.

It's not too much of a surprise that Sasuke still mostly ignores Sakura in favor of Naruto. The boys may seem like night and day, but they have many things in common still. Maybe they will learn from each other. Maybe Sasuke will open up a little and Naruto will mellow down in accordance.

Kakashi can't quite pinpoint the moment Sasuke seems to change his mind about his teammate. It happens so gradually, creepingly. Just an accumulation of little things that grow more and more noticeable.

Standing closer together while waiting on the bridge, sparring together without the usual griping, leaving together after training.

Sasuke's body language changes when Naruto is around. His lets his shoulders relax, angles his body and uncrosses his arms so that his unprotected chest is facing the younger boy. He listens and answers to questions and he is just always looking, watching closely, his gaze trying to catch Naruto's whenever possible.

And Naruto reacts in kind, more slowly, drawn in by the subtle signals that he holds someone's attention. He's not quite as brash anymore, seeming to think before acting, and often talks less loudly, his gaze flickering to Sasuke, looking for agreement or approval.

A shinobi still needs to think for himself, Kakashi means to warn, but then again, this is Naruto, the self-declared Unpredictable Ninja No 1.

There's nothing to be worried about when his two students are just exchanging shy smiles every now and again.

When, a couple of months later, he reaches the Valley of the End and finds two discarded hitai-ate he wonders how he could have been so foolishly blind.

  


ii.

Spring rolls around and old Eiko notices all the damage the harsh winter has done to her house. The fence it rotted through and the door moves at a weird angle and many other little things that she has neither the time nor energy to repair herself.

It's a lucky coincidence then when her two little lodgers show up again.

The teenage boys had stayed with her for two nights, just at the end of autumn. Jenji-kun had repaired her leaky roof while Junichi-kun had eagerly helped her harvest the last of her vegetables before digging over all the flower beds, loosening the soil before the snowy months that lay ahead of them.

Now they happen to pass by her home again and she welcomes them happily, offering some more work, good food and a roof over their heads. They graciously accept.

It's only been ten weeks since last she saw them, and they haven't changed much, only grown a bit taller, though she might be imagining it. Jenji-kun's hair is brown and close-cropped, his pale face rather plain, but handsome still in the way he moves gracefully and deliberately. Junichi-kun's red hair has grown longer, long enough for him to wear it in a pony tail so it would not get in the way.

But still, there's something different there and it takes her a while to put her finger on it. So she watches as the two of them set her door right again before getting started on building a new fence which takes quite bit longer, and soon night is upon them.

Last time, Junichi-kun had talked more, she realizes. He had called her Eiko-baa-chan and told her ridiculous stories about the people they had met on their journey, though he never revealed where they had come from or where they were going. Now he seems a little bit more subdued, happy to let her talk instead.

Jenji is much the same, never quite taking his eyes off his friend, even as they work. Now they sit close together as they gratefully accept their well-deserved meal. A wayward strand has pulled lose from Junichi-kun's ponytail and Jenji reaches out to tug it behind his ear.

Junichi smiles and Eiko wonders whether maybe they are in love, whether they ran away to be together, whether they have found a home in each other.

She doesn't ask them. The next day they complete their work and Eiko never sees them again.

  


iii.

In a way, she had never quite believed it when Kakashi returned and started weaving a crazy story about how her teammates had run away together.

One second, Naruto had promised her to rescue Sasuke-kun from being kidnapped by Orochimaru's lackeys, and the next, Sasuke-kun had supposedly started to manipulate Naruto weeks ago, luring his loyalties away from Konoha.

Back then she had noticed, with some childish jealousy, how the two of them had often cast her aside, obviously preferring each other's company over hers. But that hadn't really meant anything, had it?

Now, as she lays eyes on them for the first time in three years, she can finally believe it.

She had eventually been told about Naruto being a jinjuuriki, and it had shocked her, but seeing him moving as Sasuke's shadow is so much worse.

And she tries to talk, tries to somehow reach that part of Naruto that had been hers once, because this is about so much more than hurt feelings and missing nin. Because Gaara is dead, killed by Akatsuki, and soon enough they will try to get their hands on the Kyuubi as well.

This is why Sai and Yamato-taishou are here, she knows. Because the council doesn't quite trust Naruto's friends to do their job well.

For a moment, just a split second really, she feels hope when Naruto seems to listen to her words, when Sasuke starts feeling threatened. But then it's just gone. Sasuke turns towards Naruto and it's like she might have been yelling underwater. Naruto just doesn't hear.

Yamato attacks and all hell breaks lose. When Sakura manages to punch Sasuke in the gut it feels like a reward. This is what she had been training for all those years. And she doesn't want to kill him, but it's a close thing. Because she thought she could justify all of his actions, but what he has done to Naruto? This she cannot forgive.

But Sasuke does not care for forgiveness. He uses chidori and she falls down, half-passing out from the lightening in her veins. It's terrifying to have to listen without being able to see or move as the battle rages on all around her.

Sasuke calls Naruto as a master his dog and then she knows that Sai is down, quickly followed by Yamato.

It's quite easy then to start hating Sasuke-kun.

  


iv.

Shikamaru had been working on the case since the very beginning. After all, he had been part of the original rescue mission that was supposed to bring back Sasuke.

Back then he hadn't yet know how all of that would turn out. Otherwise, he would have just stayed home. Or maybe made sure that Naruto knew there were other people in the village who cared about him.

So Shikamaru has been entrusted with piecing together the bits of information that make it back to the Hokage. Mostly just vague rumors, but Jiraiya-sama seems to have a knack for picking out which sources might be trustworthy and relevant.

There are reports of two boys attacking other ninja teams, always defeating them, but always letting them live at well. The heists seem random, never focused on actually obtaining anything. It's seemingly never the same two boys, but one genjutsu user from another village identified them to be using very strong versions of henge.

There are other stories, not of fighting, but of two boys staying in settlements, just for a couple of days, buying food and helping out here and there. They never give anyone a straight answer about their destination, but they keep using a variety of names.

Jenji and Junichi. Michio and Tadashi. Takeshi and Nao.*

It's easy for Shikamaru to pick out the pattern. Sasuke casting himself as the righteous one, the strong leader while placing Naruto in the role of his servant.

More than a servant, he realizes when Hinata happens to pick out their chakra signals. Or maybe less.

Technically, it shouldn't be a surprise that Sasuke would take it this far. But maybe they had all hoped that he still had some scruple.

Shikamaru had read all about emotional manipulation, aided by Ino who had chosen to use her gifts as a Yamanaka and focus on mind healing. If Sasuke truly used the Sharingan to influence Naruto then there might be a chance to remove all traces of it.

If it's not the Sharingan then the problem runs that much deeper. Sasuke has had years to layer lies upon lies on what Naruto believes to be the truth. There's no piercing through that veil, not in the way Sakura so desperately attempts.

And now Shikamaru's fears manifest themselves in front of him. How easily Sasuke can claim to love and how easily Naruto trusts in it.

They kiss and it turns Shikamaru's stomach. He's been a shinobi for long enough to have heard horrible stories and see some bad things himself. He knows that torture and sexual violence are a constant threat for any ninja.

But watching this, this tenderness and complete abandon on Naruto's face as Sasuke chooses to kiss him like this, a mockery on display for them all to see.

Sakura explodes, but they are all still exhausted from their previous missions, not at all prepared for this encounter, and Shikamaru can only do so much.

When Naruto knocks him out it's just another thing that was to be expected.

  


v.

When Itachi lays eyes on his brother again, lays eyes on him for what he knows will be the last time, Sasuke looks almost like a man grown but is still a boy at heart, always struggling to prove himself, afraid of being left behind.

Sasuke had never handled loneliness well. He had been an outgoing child, eager to please and easy to be pleased in turn. And he could have turned into a lone wolf, but instead Itachi finds himself faced with two stray dogs.

What is this eternal fascination of the Uchiha with the demon fox, he wonders, though he feels no traces of the Sharingan's influence on the jinjuuriki.

They stand side by side, neither of them actually shielded but still protected by a different kind of strength.

Itachi thinks of Shisui and how easy it would have been to die for him. How hard it was to kill him instead.

He thinks of his crying mother, his scornful father, of blood seeping deep into the tatami mats. He thinks of the damning silence that descended over the compound along with the rest of the night, of how it was pierced only by Sasuke's stricken screams.

For the first time Itachi wonders whether it was the right decision to let his brother live.

It does not matter. He will die here and Sasuke will live as will Naruto.

And Itachi will finally be able to offer them the truth and maybe even grant himself a little bit of peace. The past years have given him a purpose after all, bleak though it may be, and he is eager to see his journey come to an end.

It would have been nice to have a companion, a true one, one whom he could trust immeasurably. But what would his companion do once Itachi's road ended?

And what would Sasuke do once his quest for vengeance was over? Would he dispose of Naruto, cut him loose, cut his throat? Would he do as the samurai and ask Naruto to behead him as he tore up his own insides. Would they part ways and never speak again?

But that moment of brutal farewell is still a little while off. For now they are still held together not by the will of fire but the will to fight. And he shall offer them a worthy opponent.

  


\+ i.

Kyuubi no Kitsune the humans call him and some think he is as old as the world itself. He is not but their short lifespans make his age appear like eternities.

If he hadn't tasted their blood more times that even he can count they would consider him a creature of great wisdom. They'd come to him for destiny and advice.

Instead they enthrall him with holy powers or red eyes, cage him in their children because they never understood the true meaning of sacrifice.

The boy does understand. The boy stands and twists the hemlines of his threadbare shirts and still learns to find his voice. The boy knows that hunger and loneliness are similar kinds of pain that can kill you in very different ways. The boys thinks of violence sometimes but still smiles and smiles and smiles, and Kurama has never seen a cruder weapon nor a more powerful one.

So Kurama watches him grow and does not whisper thoughts of vengeance in his mind. Kurama watches and waits and wonders what will happen.

Red eyes, once more.

The young Uchiha slips into the boy's heart and digs his roots in like a weed, deep, deeper than what can ever be torn out completely.

But his eyes are not red, Kurama realizes. Instead, he is the one whispering now, his words simple and sweet and, oh, red cheeks. Red hands.

For the first time in history, the Uchiha does not want the fox. The Uchiha does not even know that the fox is there and when he does it changes nothing. His touches remain gentle, his eyes black.

The Kyuubi does not need bewitchment when his vessel is so easily persuaded.

The irony of it all makes him cackle in his cage and spit upon those who would see him dead.

All this time the Village of the Leaf had sought to keep the kitsune contained by keeping their jinjuuriki small and smaller still. They hacked away at him yet it only hardened his bark. They cut off his branches but forgot about the roots.

The Uchiha offered him sun and water and supported him throughout the storms. The Uchiha was a stupid child but smarter than all of them combined.

I won't kill him yet, Kurama muses and twists his tails, one by one.

The dreadful thing with humanity is that it is catching. And Kurama's chakra is deeply intertwined with that of the boy, can feel the aches in his bones and the wind on his skin.

He'd been with the boy's mother for a long time, had seen her grow up and grow strong. He'd felt her get fucked, felt her conceive, felt this very boy grow within the confines of her body, right alongside him.

Is that so different from what is happening now, he wonders, as the phantom sensations titter through his mind.

The boy is on his back and getting fucked by the Uchiha, close to the fire, but reaching for the stars above instead. Humans always strove for what forever eluded them.

I've come to love, the boy tells him afterwards, bared and brave in front of him.

Love, Kurama flashes his teeth in the half-dark of his prison, because what would a human child know of love when he has lived through centuries and seen people build monuments for their loved ones, when he has seen them lay waste to cities and wage wars against the gods themselves.

He is my all, the boy says like he knows no other truth, knows nothing but the Uchiha's mouth on him, his presence by his side.

Ah, Kurama thinks and stills. For seduction always goes both ways, even if the chosen path seems to have led them astray.

There are many times throughout the past years where things could have gone differently, where minor decisions could have created an entirely new parallel universe. But this is what they have, this is the world they live in.

In an effort to grow closer and devour the distance between them, the two boys have twisted themselves, round and round each other, till none stood stronger than the other. If you wanted to take down one you had to fell both.

Ah, Kurama thinks and recognizes the potential of his own demise.

When he looks at the boys he knows that they will go to war together and that he will help them win. He looks at them and remembers that humanity is catching.

Fool, he scolds and doesn't quite know whom he is talking to, You gentle fool.

The boy finds himself back in the embrace of the Uchiha, and Kurama sits in his cage and knows little else of the outside world.

 

**Author's Note:**

> [*Name meanings: Jenji – healthy second son. Junichi – obedient one. Michio – man of the correct path. Tadashi – loyal, true. Takeshi – fierce, violent; warrior. Nao – docile]
> 
> In an entirely unforeseen turn of events that no one expected, especially not me, Kurama seems to be suffering more from Stockholm syndrome than Naruto does. Who woulda thought, huh?  
> But a lot of you asked for his POV and here it is.  
> As always, your comments and critique are much appreciated. It's so interesting how everything interprets things differently. <3


End file.
